Hope you did indeed find that helpful. Photoshop World Q&A today!
It’s over on my blog — if you’ve ever thought you might want to go, jump over there where I answer a bunch of questions about the conference. Hey, let’s at least answer one question here:Q. Will there be lots of Lightroom Classes at the Photoshop World Conference this summer?A.Oh yeah — a ton! In fact, there’s an entire Lightroom track that runs all day, every day of the conference, taught by me, Matt, Serge, Rob, Terry, Julieanne and more. You know you really should be there, right? Here’s the link to the full Photoshop World Q&A, and here’s wishing you a better than average Monday!
Best,-ScottP.S.Don’t forget, if you’re in Atlanta, Milwaukee or Columbus, Ohio, I’m heading there very soon with my Lightroom full-day seminar. Come on out and spend the day with me. Details and tickets here.
The post Renaming Your Photos With Names That Make Sense appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.

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]]>Digital DarkroomRSSNewsRobothttp://www.clubsnap.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1715874Writing XMP Files in Lightroom (why you shouldn’t and when you should)http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1715499&goto=newpost
Fri, 16 Mar 2018 08:32:01 GMT
This is a follow-up for reason #7 from my post on Monday called “If your Lightroom is running slow, it’s probably one of these seven reasons” (here’s the link in case you missed the other 6). #7 was about turning off having Lightroom automatically write .xmp files each time you make an adjustment in Lightroom and I mentioned that most Lightroom users should probably turn this auto writing of xmp files off. So, after some questions, I thought today I’d do a quick Q&A about XMP, when you should use them, and why in most cases you shouldn’t).Q. What is a .xmp file?
A. It’s a separate text file that holds any edits or metadata changes you made to your RAW file. That’s one seen above — the .xmp file for the RAW file with the same name, but its file extension is .xmp.Q. Is that text file referred to as an .xmp file?
A. You’ll hear it called either an xmp sidecar, just a ‘sidecar file’ or simply an xmp file. So, if somebody says to you, “Send me the RAW and the sidecar” you know they need your RAW file and that .xmp sidecar file — two files.Q. I thought Lightroom kept all those changes stored right in the catalog?
A. It does.Q. So why would you also need to have a .xmp file?
A. If you made edits to a RAW file (let’s say you make the Exposure brighter, you pulled back the highlights, added some Clarity and cropped the image), and you needed to give this RAW image to someone else; maybe a retoucher or another photographer in your studio, and you needed that RAW file to have all those edits you made to the file — that’s when you would need to create a .xmp file. That .xmp text contains instructions for all those changes to your RAW image. Now, when they open that RAW file in a program that supports .XMP (like Photoshop for example, or the Adobe Bridge, or even a different copy of Lightroom) as long as both the RAW file and the .xmp are there together, they would see the RAW file with all your edits.Q. So, I don’t need the ‘Automatically Write Changes to’.XMP preference turned on?
A. I wouldn’t recommend it — it slows Lightroom down. In fact, most likely you’ll only need a .xmp sidecar file if and when you’re sharing a RAW image you’ve edited with someone else.Q. Do I need an .xmp file with my JPEG, TIFF, or PSD files?
A. You do not — those edits you make are baked in the single file when you export them from Lightroom.Q. Is there a way to create just one .xmp file without having Lightroom slowing things down all the time by writing to a .xmp file every time I move a slider? A. Absolutely, when you’re done editing, and you’re ready to share the file with someone, in Lightroom just click on the file and then press Command-S (PC: Ctrl-S) and it creates a separate .xmp sidecar file with all your changes written into it.Q. What would happen if I gave someone one of my RAW files without a .xmp sidecar file?
A. Then none of your edits/changes/metadata would appear when they opened the file on their computer. It will be as though they downloaded the original RAW image from your camera’s memory card.Q. Is there a way to share a RAW file, with my edits included, but without the 2nd sidecar file?
A. Actually, there is. Convert the file to a .DNG file. That way, the .xmp data is written right into the DNG file itself — no 2nd file needed. You would do this in the Library module, under the Library menu up top; choose ‘Convert Photo to DNG’Q. How do I turn off Lightroom’s Automatic writing of .xmp sidecar files again?
A. You turn it off by going to the Lightroom menu (PC: Edit), go Catalog Settings; click the Metadata tab, and turn off the checkbox beside “Automatically write changes into XMP”Q. Hey, isn’t tonight the live broadcast of British photographer Ian Munro’s gallery opening at The Gallery at KelbyOne?
A. It is, and you’re invited to come check out Ian’s interview; see his amazing work, and learn about the man behind the camera — all tonight at 8 PM ET. It’s free and open to everyone. All the details are over on my daily blog today at scottkelby.com – no .xmp file required.
Hope you found that helpful. Have a great weekend, everybody!
Best,
–Scott
The post Writing XMP Files in Lightroom (why you shouldn’t and when you should) appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.

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]]>Digital DarkroomRSSNewsRobothttp://www.clubsnap.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1715499Making Use of the Copy Name Field with Virtual Copieshttp://www.clubsnap.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1715264&goto=newpost
Wed, 14 Mar 2018 08:12:04 GMTI received a question from someone wanting to know how to rename their virtual copies the other day, and thought it would make for a useful post to share with you all. The short answer is that you...I received a question from someone wanting to know how to rename their virtual copies the other day, and thought it would make for a useful post to share with you all. The short answer is that you can’t rename your virtual copies because a virtual copy only exists in the catalog as an additional set of processing instructions. Since there is only the one source photo on your drive, there are no copies to rename. Let’s dive into a longer answer.
One of the most useful aspects of a virtual copy is that it doesn’t require making an actual copy of your source photo if you want to process it in an alternative way. This can free you up to create any number of versions of a given photo. Sure, they do require the creation of previews in the preview cache and they do add to the size of the catalog, but those are smaller prices to pay than duplicating the actual source photo multiple times. Some common reasons I’ve seen for creating virtual copies are to have a photo cropped to multiple different aspect ratios, to try out different processing techniques, to create different color and B&W versions, and so on. I’ve written more on virtual copies if you want to dive deeper.
Each time a virtual copy is created Lightroom automatically populates the Copy Name field with Copy 1, Copy 2, Copy 3, etc., as a way to give each virtual copy a unique name. The Copy Name field and the auto-filled names are often invisible to a lot of people using Lightroom. If you expand the Metadata panel and select a virtual copy, you will see what I mean.
Those auto-generated names aren’t particularly useful, and although we can’t customize what Lightroom inserts in that field, we have full editorial control to insert a more human-friendly name in there if it suits our purposes. Just click in the field and type away. Likewise, you can use that field to provide an alternative or supplemental name to the source photo, which is left empty by default. For example, if you create a single virtual copy to make a B&W version, and fill Copy Name with “BW” then it might also be useful to enter “Color” for the original (or master in Lightroom terms).
You can make that a bit more useful by customizing the Info Overlay and Grid View Style to display the Copy Name field so that you can see it more easily. I’ve written previously on customizing the Info Overlay, and customizing Grid View Styles is very similar.
You can further leverage the contents of the Copy Name field by including it in a Filename Template that you can apply to your exported copies. During export your virtual copies will become real copies that exist on your drive, and at that moment they each need to have a unique file name. Why not take advantage of the name you already used? Here’s how to incorporate Copy Name into a Filename Template by appending it to the existing source photo’s filename:

In the Library module, go to Library > Rename Photo, to open the Rename dialog box.

Click the File Naming drop-down menu and choose Edit from the bottom of the list.

Delete any existing tokens in the editing window.

In the Image Name section, click the Insert button next to Filename to include the source photo’s filename.

(Optional) Click into the editing window and type your favorite separator, such as a hyphen. Note, that if you include a separator and leave the Copy Name field empty for the source photo, you end up with a filename that ends in the separator only. In other words, if Copy Name is empty, there is nothing to separate from the leading filename.

Still within the Image Name section, click the drop-down for the second set of tokens and choose Copy Name to add it to the template.

(Optional) Incorporate any other tokens you find useful.

Click the Preset drop-down menu and choose Save Current Settings as New Preset, and give it a meaningful name.

Cancel out of the Rename dialog box without renaming.

Any Filename Templates you create are available for use on import, within the Library module, and on export. The next time you export a batch of photos with usefully-named virtual copies, you can put this Filename Template to work, and in a way, rename your virtual copies. Hope that helps!
The post Making Use of the Copy Name Field with Virtual Copies appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.

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]]>Digital DarkroomRSSNewsRobothttp://www.clubsnap.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1715264How to categorize photos using the Metadata Painter (What?!)http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1715141&goto=newpost
Tue, 13 Mar 2018 08:32:02 GMTHere’s another awesome new video tip from longtime Adobe Lightroom Team member Benjamin Warde. Even if categorizing photos using the Metadata Painter doesn’t sound all that interesting, it’s more interesting than you’d think, and it’s only 60-seconds so give it a watch (you’ll be glad you did).